About Academy

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About Academy

Latvian Academy of Culture. When written on a piece of paper, the words seem foreign. At this moment, they are only words. A city in a city. A gate. A courtyard. Students exchange hellos. Clear windows display classrooms full of concentrating students and dedicated lecturers. When the sun sets, the warm, yellow glow of the lanterns lights the campus. In the evenings, the soft chatter and laughter of students can be heard as they make happy memories.

The Academy building preserves imprints of different times, events, and people. Full of rich history, the Academy was once a hectic fire department, comprised of rushing fire fighters that put out fires; it was a place where students from all over Riga came to study different professions. Even still today, it is thought that the basement and the attic hold mysterious secrets of the Academy’s legacy.

The Latvian Academy of Culture is the higher education institution founded by the resolution of the Council of Ministers on December 29, 1990.

The Latvian Academy of Culture realises accredited higher education study programmes at Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral levels. The Research Centre and the Creative Activity Centre of the Latvian Academy of Culture as well as the students and the lecturers of the Academy take part in the realisation of the scientific research and artistic creation.

The main goal of the Academy is to administer studies at the Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral levels in such fields as: the Arts and Social Sciences, Theatre Studies, Audiovisual Arts, Contemporary Dance, and others. The Academy also undertakes research projects in the fields of the Arts and the Social Sciences as well as realises artistic creation.

The Ministry for Education and Science of the Republic of Latvia has accredited the Latvian Academy of Culture’s realised higher education programmes and has given the Academy the right to award Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, and Doctor of Arts academic degrees till 2019.

Eduards Smiļģis Theatre Museum has been a Latvian Academy of Culture’s structural unit since June 2, 2009, when it was handed over from the Literature and Music Museum by the order of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Latvia.

Riga Film Museum has been a Latvian Academy of Culture’s structural unit since January 1, 2010, when the National Film Centre had been reorganised by the order of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Latvia. Since December 31, 2011 the Latvian Culture College has also been under the Latvian Academy of Culture.

The decision-making bodies of the Academy are: the Constitutional Assembly, the Senate, the Rector, and the Academic Arbitration.